A Match Not Made in Aman
by Cotume
Summary: A different look at a Celeborn and Galadriel love story. In which Celeborn is not the perfect elf everyone sees him as.
1. Not the Best of Meetings

Disclaimer-I don't own anything you see in Lord of the Rings or Silmarillion. That all belongs to the wonderful J.R.R. Tolkien. I own well maybe the plot and anything else you don't recognize.  
  
A/N Just to let people know, this is my first lord of the rings fanfic, so be nice. My elvish isn't the best, but it should all be correct at least word wise. Grammar wise I don't think it is, but again I tried. And this will be a romance later on. It is also going to be a bit of a different Celeborn/Galadriel romance. The rating will probably go up later too. Now on to the story.  
  
Chapter 1 Not the best of meetings  
  
The dining hall of King Thingol was bustling with activity as happy elves ate and talked. Most of the talk was about the upcoming feast when the Noldor princes and princess would arrive. Most maidens were giggling about how handsome the princes must be. While the men, mostly the warriors made up wild stories about the Lady. So when the doors were thrown open and a wet messenger from Border Patrol rushed in all sound ceased.  
  
The messenger quickly walked up to the king and queen and gave them a slight bow before he began speaking. "My King, orcs are attacking the Northern border."  
  
"Can't the border patrol handle them?" King Elu Thingol asked.  
  
"Lord, there are hundreds and the Noldorian lords and lady are coming only a few miles away from there."  
  
Gasps were heard all around the hall, but the king was barely fazed. Instead he turned to his left and spoke to the silver-haired male who sat there. "Celeborn, I want you to lead a convoy out to the Noldorians and lead them safely back. I also don't want a single one of them hurt. Do you understand?" He warned his nephew.  
  
"Yes, Sire none will be hurt at all." Celeborn replied in his lyrical voice. The captain stood and bowed low to his liege and turned and walked to the doors. The soft click of his elven boots was the only sound in the hall. But when he spoke again most of the elves jumped. For the change in his voice was so drastic that those who weren't soldiers were scared. In a sharp commanding voice he spoke again. "Beleg, Thalion, Mablung, Rochtur, gather your men and meet me outside ready to go. Fully armed and horses ready too."  
  
Men under the four men called began to stand up and follow their captain but he was gone already. By the time the men were up the wide double doors had already been thrown open and slammed shut with such an impact that if the craftsmanship hadn't have been so good, they would have fallen off of their hinges. Such hatred Celeborn the Wise of Doriath, highest captain of the warriors, and great-nephew of King Thingol, had for the orcs of Morgoth. As his rage built, so did his eagerness to fight the foul creatures. He began to run towards his room to grab his bow and his sword, for he knew he couldn't fight with his ceremony blade he wore as a sign of his rank.  
  
When he got to his room he threw the sword on his bed and pulled his formal attire off and replaced it with riding trousers of gray, a white shirt that fit tight enough not to get in his way when fighting, but not too tight to render his movement. Next, he placed his quiver on his back and slung his bow on it. Over that he placed his dark blue cloak with the silver tree across his shoulders and fastened it with the mithril sword that his niece Nimloth had made for him. He put on a pair of sturdy black boots. Finally he grabbed his twin double bladed swords, put them in their sheaths on each side of his hips, and stuck his two daggers in their places in his boots. Now he was ready to lead his men in battle. As he hurried towards the stables he wondered how long he would have to wait before all of his men showed up. 'At least five minutes,' he thought grimly. Celeborn was ready to kill some worthless orcs. So it was a great surprise that when he did reach the stables all of his men were there, saddled up, and even had his horse ready for him. 'Since when did I become Celeborn the Slow?' he thought as he mounted his gray speckled black stallion. "We ride men. But remember what the king said, not one will be hurt. Noro lim, noro norn! Bedi, bedi, bedi!" Celeborn ordered his warriors and off out of Menegroth they went and into the forests and rain.  
  
Leading the men was Celeborn and behind him in a perfect row of four were Beleg, Mablung, Rochtur, and Thalion. Now behind each of them were ten elves. These were the best of Menegroth and honored above all other warriors. They were trained in the ways of bows, swords, lances or spears, and horses. They were all of grim face and proud stature. These men were the honor guards of Doriath. Not once in all the time that they had been fighting against Morgoth had they lost one man and they weren't going to lose one anytime soon.  
  
For several minutes they had been galloping in silence when Celeborn decided to speak again. "We ride hard men, as fast as we can. None Noldo hurt and that is an order men." As they speeded up to the fastest there horses could do in the forests, they began to hear signs of a battle being fought. The sound of orcs reached their sensitive ears. The orcs were making a dreadful roar, the one they make when they know they are about to win. The sound froze Celeborn's heart and he again ordered his men. "Noro lim," he yelled. "Split up and find them."  
  
As the men began to break formation, they also began to hear sounds of elven yells. Some were cries for help and other were cries of battle. Celeborn by this time had reached the edge of the forest and could see the battle. He pulled out his bow and three arrows and notched them up. He was out of firing-range, but not by much. Just a little further and he could begin to wreak hell on the foul creatures.  
  
Five more feet, three feet, one foot, and he let loose three arrows at once. The shriek of pain was his sweet reward. He grabbed three more arrows from the quiver, notched them, and let them fly. Before those three had even hit a target he had loaded another three and was searching for the Noldo elves so he could help them. But he was still too far away to be sure of where they were so he let those arrows fly. He kept on doing this until he was at his last arrow and only fifteen feet away from the battle.  
  
He let the last go, put up his bow, and pulled out his twin blades. If the orc was anywhere near him he was slashing and slicing at it. Out of the corners of his eyes, he could see his other forty men doing the same; some with their sword and others with the lance. Celeborn risked a quick glance up to scan for the Noldo and this time he found them. They were forty-five away towards the North and that was the direction he began going. But while looking up Celeborn didn't see the orc that was charging out him from his left. Only when his horse charged forward did he even look down. But by then it was too late the orc had already grabbed hold of his cloak and had pulled him down.  
  
In Celeborn's surprise he dropped both of his swords when he was pulled off. He hit the ground and tried to roll away but the orc had a good hold on him. He was pulled to a standing position only that his feet didn't touch the ground. But that didn't mean he couldn't use his feet. No, Celeborn kicked out at the orc with one foot and brought the other one up enough so that he could reach his dagger in his boot. When then orc looked back at the silver elf, all he saw was a silver dagger heading straight for his head.  
  
He then pulled his dagger out of the dead orc's skull and stuck in back in its hiding place. Quickly he began to look for his swords. When he couldn't find them he began to panic. 'Thingol gave me those what is he going to say when I come back and tell him that I lost them? Oh this can't be good.' Well he couldn't dwell on it too long as he saw three more orcs coming towards him all with long swords. He pulled his daggers out and searched for his stallion quickly. When he spotted him, he ran as fast as he could and took a big jump and landed on the back on him. "Noro lim, Mornpegceleb!"  
  
From the back of his saddle he pulled out his spare sword. 'Thank the Valar I left this one on the saddle,' he thought. As the orcs began to close in on him, he fought as hard as he could with that one sword but it was nothing compared to his twin blades. Without them, he wasn't as deadly, nor could he kill as many orcs as he could have before.  
  
"Maethors have any of you seen my swords?" He called out to his men hoping that someone might have picked them up.  
  
"Na le megils lìn?" Asked a voice to his side. Celeborn turned half expecting it to be one of his men, when to his surprise it was a Noldo maiden.  
  
"Yes lady, they are my swords. And I would love to have them back because it is a little bit hard to fight orcs using only one sword." He replied keeping his temper in check.  
  
"Then you must be quite the maethor to wield such blades and two of them at that."  
  
"Some have told me that and if I had them back maybe I could prove it." With that said he turned quickly in his saddle and stabbed the orc trying to sneak unsuccessfully up behind him. Pulling his blade free he turned back to the lady and again asked for his blades back.  
  
"If you can catch them you can have them back." And then she tossed them blade side towards him and hoped that it didn't hurt him too bad.  
  
"Iôn uin inuhû!" Celeborn exclaimed as he sheathed the one sword he had and reached out and took hold of the tips of the swords and then flipped them so that his hands grasped the hilts instead of the blades. When he glanced away from his swords he noticed that all of the Noldo were glaring out him as if he had just done the worst thing in the all of Arda.  
  
So he turned towards them and gave them a slight bow of his head and spoke. "I am Celeborn, great-nephew of King Thingol and am here to escort you back safely to Menegroth. Now if you would please wait until we are in the safety of the woods before I do this properly? Thank you very much." Celeborn said once again using his lyrical voice. This made the Noldo confused as if wondering is this the same elf that just twenty seconds ago swore in the harshest of tones?  
  
"Hîr nîn," Celeborn turned to Mablung who had just addressed him. "Hoth o yrch anglenna."  
  
"Mablung get the men ready to retreat. We fight this one in the Girdle. But make sure they stay behind the Noldo." He commanded in his harsh voice again.  
  
"Yes Captain. Men form for retreat." He ordered as he left Celeborn's side.  
  
"Now my lords and lady if you would we need to go to the forest now." He had just begun to leave when he noticed they still hadn't even thought of moving. "We have to go now." He yelled at them as his temper began to flare up.  
  
Still they didn't move. So he turned his stallion behind them and rearing up yelled once more in his sternest voice. "If you do not leave now, these plains will be covered with orcs and we will all be dead. Now go. Noro lim, noro lim!" But still they didn't move so he took off and grabbed the nearest horse's reins and dragged him and his rider after him. As he neared the forest, he looked back to make sure the others were following and they were a little bit further behind him, but they were coming.  
  
But it was in the corner of his eye that he saw the two orcs getting ready to fire their arrows at his companion who happened to be the Lady Artanis. Thingol's words came back to him then and he knew what he had to do. He slowed Mornpegceleb down so that the lady would catch up with him, stood up on the back of the saddle using his perfect elven balance, and launched himself at the lady.  
  
Time seemed to slow down as he hit her. But he knew that he needed to act fast. He twisted the lady around so that he was on the outside and then he felt two arrows sink into his flesh. One went in his right shoulder and the other one in his lower back. The pain was horrible. His whole body felt as though it were on fire and when he thought it couldn't get worse, it did. A third arrow embedded itself into the back of his left knee, shattering the kneecap. But still he slid his legs under the lady so that she wouldn't get hurt in the fall. Just before they hit the ground he asked the lady something. "Please forgive me lady." Then they hit the ground and everything went black for Celeborn.  
  
Translations Beleg-mighty Rochtur-horse master Thalion-Strong or Steadfast Mablung-of the Heavy Hand Noro lim, noro norn! Bedi, bedi, bedi! -Run fast, run hard! Go go go! Mornpegceleb -Black Speckled Silver, name of his horse Maethors-warriors Na le megils lìn? -Be thee swords yours? Iôn uin inuhû-Son of the female dog (couldn't find what a is) Hîr nîn-my lord Hoth o yrch anglenna-horde of orcs approach  
  
So just go ahead now and tell me what you think. If it sucks just go ahead and tell me that. And if you have suggestions tell me that too. 


	2. One Wounded Captain and Much Blackness

A/N-I am sorry for taking such a long time in getting this chapter out. I want to thank all of the people who reviewed this story. That really made my day when I read that people actually liked this story. Thank you so much.  
  
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine except for maybe a few characters that I made up. But other than that the rest belongs to the great, wonderful, and awesome J.R.R. Tolkien.  
  
Chapter 2-One Wounded Captain and Much Blackness  
  
Pain. Oh the pain was horrible. But not so much as the darkness. That was unbearable. No light anywhere. Just black, totally black. And it was much too silent. Something wasn't right. 'Please don't let me be dead. Don't let this be outside the Halls of Mandos. I knew those arrows were close, but not that close, I was only following orders. Oh Eru, don't let her be hurt.' Celeborn thought as the unconsciousness began to lift away off of him.  
  
All too soon he fully awakened. The pain was so much worse but at least he knew he was alive. His sight was beginning to work correctly again. He could see the faint light of the lanterns and a few elvish outlines. Sound was making its way to his ears too. The horses were growing impatient and were moving around on the ground and some were neighing. To his right was coming a soft feminine voice. It sounded like a healing charm in Quenya, but he was much too weak to try and figure out what was being said.  
  
The rain blurred his sight but as he gazed upon the lady, he swore he saw one of the Valor themselves. With her wet traveling clothes (that clung tightly to her body) and the drenched locks that were barely covered by her hood, she looked more beautiful than Queen Melian. It seemed that her very essence glowed gold. Like a maiden crowned in radiance.  
  
With all of his strength that he had left, he spoke to her. His voice was full of pain, but also laced with worry. "Milady, I must enquire," he gasped and took another breath before continuing, "whether or not you are uninjured." Celeborn's breathing was becoming more rapid and his eyes were starting to go hazy and unfocused again. He could feel the pain starting to overtake him and the blackness was coming back. But he knew that he must stay awake to at least hear her answer.  
  
Artanis was surprised when he had spoken considering how much pain he must be in. She could feel him slipping again and knew she must answer him. With a smile on her face she spoke, "Thanks to you My Lord, I am unharmed." And with that he let the darkness take him away again.  
  
"He's out again and loosing strength. We must get the arrows out now! Please somebody help me finish rolling him over and hold him down." She desperately begged the crowd of warriors.  
  
"Allow me to help my caption, milady." Beleg said as he moved silently to the other side of Celeborn.  
  
Together they gently rolled him from his side to his stomach without further disturbing or hurting him. Beleg then, called to Thalion to help in holding down Celeborn. Artanis stood over the arrow that was in his knee, while Thalion held down the legs and Beleg had the shoulders. She placed one foot on his calf and used both of her hands to pull the arrow out.  
  
After a little tugging the arrow dislodged itself from the skin and muscle. It also caused Celeborn to give a groan.  
  
Artanis then moved up to the arrow that was in the warriors' lower back. With her small knife, she carefully cut around the arrowhead so it wouldn't do as much damage when it was pulled out. This time she put her foot on Celeborn's upper butt to give her something to push up with. "Hold him tight," she ordered Beleg and Thalion.  
  
With all of her strength, Artanis pulled at the arrow. Even after cutting the skin away from it, it was still hung up on something and didn't want to come out. It took several attempts before it finally came out.  
  
But the arrow wasn't the only thing that came out. Celeborn came out of his unconscious state with the pain. Where he had thought the pain from before was bad, now it was five times worse. He couldn't help the need to curse so he did.  
  
Lifting his head out of the dirt and grass he screamed and caused elves to jump. "Bloody mother of hell that hurts. And who ever is on my butt, get the hell off. And Beleg let me go." Once the extra weight was off of him, he then tried to push himself up.  
  
That was before a hand stopped him and pushed him back down. "That is must unwise to do, milord. Your wounds have not been bound and moving will only make them worse. Plus you still have an arrow in your shoulder." The lady told him.  
  
"Then hurry up and bind the wounds and pull the other damn arrow out." He ordered her.  
  
"You'll need to remove your shirt and boot so I can do that then, sir."  
  
"Thalion," he called to his good friend. "Do as she says, but remove the cloak first."  
  
"Yes, captain."  
  
Using his one good arm, Celeborn pushed himself up enough so that Thalion could undo his cloak and get that off. As soon as that was done, Celeborn fell back to the ground. Thalion went to remove the shirt, but found that quite impossible to do since Celeborn was lying on the part that you untie it and with the arrow in the shoulder, he couldn't roll him over to take it off.  
  
Celeborn, I can't get your shirt off in."  
  
'I'm surrounded by idiots.' Celeborn thought to himself before he interrupter Thalion. "Then cut the damn thing off."  
  
"Yes, Captain." Taking out one of his daggers, Thalion started to cut the gray material that was turning red. Once the tunic was removed, Artanis had come back with several bandages.  
  
His skin was warm compared to her cold hands. She noticed that he shivered as she began to clean the blood off of his back. As she moved closer to the wound's opening, she could feel his back tense up. The muscles underneath the cloth grew hard and made his back feel like a rock.  
  
While she was applying pressure to the wound, she took a good look at the elf. She had watched him fight and saw the fury that he fought with. His eyes were like steel, one couldn't look in them while he fought, but when he spoke to her, his eyes were soft like velvet almost. His hair was silver in color and went to his upper back. Part of it was braided in the manner of elf lords. His only clothing now was the gray riding breeches that had blood on one knee. They clung to him tight enough to show off the nicely toned calf muscles.  
  
His back was hairless and had a perfect skin tone. His arms looked strong even without being flexed. Pale hairs covered them, but one had to look very close to notice them. She could only see part of his head, but that was enough to study. His eyes were barely open, but Artanis could still tell that they were a green. A rare color of eyes and hair for an elf. Not even the Teleri had that color of hair and most of them were silver-haired. His was the same color silver as Telperion. His nose was perfectly straight like all elves' noses. And his mouth was a pale pink color and even though it was chapped, it still looked soft.  
  
After she had finished her inspection of the elf, she began to start on the bandages. But there was the problem of him lying on the ground again. So she called to one of the ones who had helped hold him down. "Your name is Thalion is it not?" He nodded meaning yes. "Well Thalion I need you to stand him up and then support him so I can wrap up the wound. Can you do that without hurting his knee?" He nodded again. "Good now stand him up please."  
  
Using Celeborn's uninjured arm, Thalion pulled him carefully to his feet. He then moved so that he was supporting his weight on the side that had the injured knee. Artanis began to wrap his back and stomach with the bandages. Her hands were traveling slowly across his stomach feeling the warmth and hard muscles that were there. Each time she went around she barely grazed the skin, but on the last time she had her whole hand resting on his skin. That caused Celeborn to shiver once more.  
  
After securing the bandage, Thalion lowered him into a sitting position. With his boot off and his riding pants rolled up, Artanis started cleaning around the knee. His knee was resting straight on a fallen log and when it first began to bend, he screamed out a few more elvish curses. "I know that it has to hurt, but I have nothing to give you to numb the pain. And I have already tried healing charms on it." She whispered to him.  
  
"What's wrong with it?"  
  
"The arrow had enough force that it shattered your kneecap. You will not be walking without help or a brace for some time."  
  
"No, I'm already the Slow, don't make me be the Lame too."  
  
"Don't forget the Unwise for forgetting your armor, Captain." A voice cried out from the crowd. It also caused quite a few laughs from the men.  
  
"Too bad for you Oropher that I am not the Deaf. I think that one deserves a little bit of extra stable duty. And you know what that means."  
  
Some grumbles and more curses were heard and this time it made Celeborn laugh. But the pain that not even good-natured jests could help came back. His whole leg tensed before he realized that that hurt his knee even more. When he did look back at his knee he could see that it was fully wrapped up in the same type of material that his stomach was. It was weird though, even with the rain falling on it, it didn't seem to be getting wet. So absorbed in his study he didn't hear Artanis when she tried speaking to him.  
  
Shrugging her shoulders, she moved behind him and gripped the arrow that was still embedded. This one was deeper than the other two because it was the one the hit the ground when they fell and was pushed further down and at a weird angle into the shoulder blade. At the same time she pushed her foot into his back and pulled the arrow. He fell forward as she went back with the arrow.  
  
Not sure what had happened, Celeborn had grabbed the dagger from his boot and turned as much as he could without bothering the bandages. What he saw made him forget about the pain for a moment and laugh. The Noldorian lady was sitting very ungracefully on the ground in the mud.  
  
But then the coughing started up. Celeborn was gasping for breath. Blood was being forced out of with the coughs. His eyes were clouding up again and everything was becoming spotted. His hands were clinched so tight that the skin broke. The bandage on his back was starting to get red. Celeborn was bleeding in the inside.  
  
"Damn this pain. Get me to Melian." His head was rolled back and the muscles were tense. "Now." The last word was desperate. And again, the world went black for him.  
  
I am so sorry that it took me forever to get this out. I haven't had that much time to write and have spent most of my time being lazy or watching movies. I just saw X-Men 2. That is an awesome movie. But anyways here is the next chapter and I hope you like it. Don't forget to review.  
  
Cotume 


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